


A Day Out, Alternatively; Jim Drags Spock Around the Outskirts of Town

by WhyDoesEverythingHappenSoMuch



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Blushing, Fluff, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Idiots in Love, Jim doesn't know Vulcans have green blood, M/M, Maybe smut one day if I stop procrastinating with writing this, POV Spock, Road Trips, Sassy Spock, Sunrises, a tad bit sad for like 5 seconds, beach trip!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-07 12:32:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11623608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyDoesEverythingHappenSoMuch/pseuds/WhyDoesEverythingHappenSoMuch
Summary: Jim finds out Spock has not seen any un-built upon land on earth and decides its up to him to remedy the situation.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was literally titled 'literal trash' so don't expect much

During my short stays and time teaching on earth I had never visited anywhere untouched by mankind. My work and teaching never required me to leave the city so I saw no point in doing so. 

When Jim had been made aware of this information he was more than surprised, bordering on incredulous. 

I thought his response over dramatic. 

While natural space is very important to maintaining a balanced ecosystem within a planet, I did not understand how my surveying the already studied land would be beneficial in any way. 

No matter how I tried to reason that taking the day off for no reason at all but to look at the landscape was pointless, his mind was made, and I of all people should know that there is no way to change the captain's mind once he had convinced himself his idea is a sound one. 

There was nothing to be done but agree.

His exuberance showed itself again when he woke me at four in the morning the following day. Normally this would be of no issue, as I need less sleep than humans. What made the situation so unpleasant was that the reason he had woken me was trivial beyond belief. 

"Well if I'm showing you the beauties of earth, I thought we should start with the sunrise." I sat up and cocked an eyebrow at the overly eager young man. 

"I have seen many sunrises, this one should be no different. But as I am already awake I might as well continue my work on-" before I could complete my thought I was pulled by the shoulder out of my bed by Jim. 

"Well, get dressed." Jim said his tone growing impatient as if he had not pulled me from my bed hardly 35 seconds ago. I waited for him to exit the room so that I could do as asked and dress. 

He didn't move.

"Some time today Spock." Jim again sounding slightly childish.

"I will change as soon as you exit my quarters" Jim gave me an odd look. It was not so much as confusion but of slight amusement. 

"Never figured you to be a shy type" the man muses to himself as he leaves.

Efficiently yet without rush I dressed. As I opened the door of my room I thought to myself that I should have grabbed a jacket of some sort. Vulcan is a desert planet and the weather on earth in early spring is still too cold for my taste.

It is needless to say I did not go back for one, due to the fact that as soon as the door opened Jim was dragging me by the four-arm through the compound where we were currently staying while Scotty made arrangements with engineers to help get the enterprise back to its original state.

Upon opening the door to the inside of the parking bay I was hit with the smell of oils and gasoline and cement. I can not say I enjoyed the sent. 

"So motorcycle or the car?" Jim asked as he opened the bay doors.

"I have taken the liberty in assuming that you knew that a motorbike is one of the most difficult and dangerous vehicles to dri-" Jim looks at me like he had just minutes before while leaving my room.  
Humans, they want you to know exactly how they feel yet they cover emotional indicators under mixed expressions. I believe he saw my confusion.  
"It was a joke, Spock." He explained rolling his eyes and opening the passenger seat door. 

"But yes, the car is safer" he laughed at his own words as I got seated. I looked at the interior, clearly, this was not a car up to the safety protocols of this day and age.  
"Capta-" I began before he again cut me off.  
"It's Jim, just Jim today. Okay?"  
"Yes cap-"  
"Just Jim" he laughed and smiled. This may have been the happiest I have seen him in a long while; carefree.  
"Yes Jim"

When he started the car music began to play, but it was not the radio. The music had to have been hundreds of years old. That meant that this car must have a CD player, therefore making this car- 

"Jim are you aware that your car is close to two hundred years old?" I began questioning the safety of this trip. 

"Aw, don't say that about her" Jim patted the dash of the car.  
"Cars have no gender Jim, They are not sentient therefore the car cannot get of-"  
"Don't take everything so literally Spock." He looked to me catching my eye. His hair looked almost golden from the sun that came through the window of the car. 

"Please continue watching where you are driving Jim," I said turning my gaze back to the road willing my heart to return to a normal rhythm, I knew it to be the fear of riding in a car not even authorized to be on the road. 

"Are you okay Spock?" He sounded concerned.  
"Why do you ask" I kept my gaze down.  
"Well your face looks a bit green, you don't get car sick do you?" He asked running a worried hand through his hair.

"Please don't get sick in my car" he muttered.  
"I am fine captain"  
"It's Jim"  
"Yes... I am fine Jim" I have never understood the importance of who you call by what name at what time in human culture. 

"Why was your face green?" He asked thankfully looking at the road, as I could still feel the blood rising to my face.  
"You must have scored poorly in biology, Vulcans have green copper-based blood." A look of realization crossed his face.

"So you blushed? Can Vulcans ev- wait why were you-" he cut himself off with laughter. I was glad that he did, I would not have been able to answer his questions. I quickly changed my mind when he stated, "You find me attractive" confidently.

"Jim!" I said too forcefully perhaps. I again felt my face heat. He saw me and laughed again.  
"Sorry, that was inappropriate." He could not stop grinning. He was not sorry.  
"yes very," I said trying to keep the building irritation out of my voice. For the next few minutes, the car was quiet except for the music and Jim's humming. 

"You know these songs?" I asked when the humming evolved into soft singing.  
"Yeah, I love early 2000's music, the music has so much feeling in it, ya' know? So, I get it if you don't like it" he said, I think he expected that I would answer. I did not. When we finally hit the outskirts of the city Jim began to really speed. 

"You are aware that you are speeding?" I asked hoping that once he was notified he would slow down. 

"Come on Spock, live a little!" He opened the windows and accelerated even more. I looked at him. Really taking in and observing every detail of his windblown hair and large grin.

He said something, but I was too lost in thought. Too lost in him to hear him, quite a concept. 

"Are you even paying attention ?" At that moment he again caught my staring.  
His grin softened into something more affectionate.  
"I know you were blushing, why else would blood rush to your face? My only question is why." I again did not answer, looking out into the still dark morning sky. 

"Didn't know Vulcans could be petty" he mused. I knew he was trying to goad me on, I could not help the irritation that began to rise.  
"I am not being petty, I simply am choosing not to answer."  
"Your choosing not to answer tells me something's up"  
"Nothing is "up" Jim"  
"The sky"  
"That is a nonsequitur, Jim... Or is that human humor"  
"What are you thinking about?"  
"Nothing"  
"You're always thinking"

I looked away from him pointedly. He put a hand on my shoulder.  
"Your thinking about something, tell me"  
"I had assumed you had taken me out to see the scenery, please, let me enjoy it."  
"Is sass an emotion?" he asked taking the turn onto a poorly paved street  
"No Jim, it is not," I said, keeping a level voice.  
Only a few minutes later he brakes the silence  
"We're here" turning off the car he stepped out.


	2. Chapter 2

"When you said we would watch the sunset I had assumed we would visit a park of some sort not-"  
"Park my car in the middle of an old road?"  
"Yes..."

Jim went around the car and opened the luggage compartment of the vehicle, even though he had stored nothing there. 

"Come here Spock"  
"We are getting out in the middle of the street?" I think my concern was evident in my voice because Jim gave me a reassuring smile.

"It'll be fun"  
I get out of the car as requested. Walking around the back of the vehicle I saw that Jim had blankets, pillows, and even drinks.   
"Why are-" he threw one of the pillows at me, I caught it and gave him a perplexed look. 

Jim climbed in the storage compartment of the car.   
"Come on you're gonna miss it!"  
"A sun rise lasts approximately 2 hours, if I stand here I moment Lon-" again he cuts me off and takes my hand to try to force me to sit with him. 

I assumed that Jim had no idea what he was doing by holding my hand, as he clearly knew nothing of the Vulcan species let alone their social customs. Still I could not help the rising heat to my face and the premature ventricular contractions that his touch caused. He noticed. 

"You're blushing again"   
"no- I"  
"Yes you are Spock, I can see your face turning green."  
"I regret telling you the color of Vulcan blood."  
"So you a-"  
"Jim, please, be silent"

He was silent. We sat there for approximately 15 minutes before Jim had to speak again.  
"What's it like."  
"What is what like Jim?"   
He leaned back and took another sip of whatever was in the cans he had brought.   
"What's it like... To not feel. I can't imagine even waking up without feeling some emotion." We were quiet for quite some time until I answered him.

"I do feel." Jim looked surprised. I continued.  
"But what separates my emotions from yours, is that I have trained to suppress my emotions from an elementary age." Jim looks hurt.

"Did I offend you?" Not wanting this conversation to end in argument as so many of our conversations had the tendency to.   
"No, no. It's just, you never got to hug your mother as a kid, throw tantrums, have crutches, or to even cry over your m-" I looked away at the mention of my mother. Jim saw and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again and handed me one of the cans. Assuming it was the beer he seemed to be so fond of, I declined. 

I deduced from the crews glances on other occasions when he had drank so early in the morning, that this was considered a taboo. I was not surprised by Jim's neglect of his own social customs, he has never been one to follow the rules. 

"Look, I'm sorry." I looked over at him.  
"For what are you apologizing? You have said nothing wrong."   
"What I said, on the bridge after she- I just- I never apologized to you, well formally. What I said was unacceptable, and you had every right to hurt me. I'm sorry." He looked me in the eyes and gave me a sorrowful smile. 

We both turned back to the sky. While pointless and illogical to sit in the back of a car, with beer and blankets at 5 am, on the side of the street, just to watch the sunrise, I can not say I disliked it. 

Once the sun was fully risen and the pink was completely gone from the sky Jim fell onto his back and closed his eyes. He sighed and opened an eye to look at me. 

 

"Lay down."  
I furrowed my brows.  
"Please?" Jim opened both eyes and gave me a hopeful smile.   
"Jim I fail to se-"  
"Please?"   
"J-"  
"It's not gonna kill you!" Jim quickly sat up and pulled me into my back.

I did not sit back up, as I assumed he would pull me down again; once Jim had made up his mind, there was no changing it. He closed his eyes again. I could look at him, in a much closer proximity than in the car earlier. He looked so very calm, so very content. He was beautiful by any standard, I caught myself in my wayward thoughts and looked away. 

"Do Vulcans dream."  
"Define dream."  
"Hm… Sleeping hallucinations?"  
"Yes, but they tend to be modeled after what has happened during my daily activities. I am also fully lucid."  
"That's so cool. You could do anything... Or anyone"   
"Jim, please refrain from the unnecessary sexual comments."  
"Why, am I making you blush."   
" Jim "   
"I know I am."

I sat up, he was correct, he was making me 'blush'. It was... Shameful? I can not recall the word for what exactly I was feeling. 

"Hey, hey I'm kidding." He looked me over from where he was laying.   
"Is it that taboo in Vulcan culture?"  
"Yes, now, please refrain from broaching the subject."   
"If I apologize will you lay back down?"  
"Most likely."  
"Sorry."  
I laid back down. 

Again Jim questioned me.  
"Am I stupid to you? I mean with your 'Vulcan intellect', do you see me as lesser?"  
I was not expecting such a question, I briefly entertained the possibility he thought himself stupid. 

"The opposite Jim. You are -" intelligent, brilliant, radiating, beautiful, kind, human in I way I long to be, a leader; fierce and calculating in the face of chaos, the one that fills my mind upon every waking moment, the one who gives me comfort no matter how much I deny it, every thing I wish for and wish to be? I correct my thoughts, the state of my thinking as of late is unacceptable.

"You are- very much up to my intellectual standards." I come up with. The words feel empty to even myself, epically when compared to my mind's first response. Another difference between a human and I; when I tell myself that I will never speak my true mind to him, I mean it. 

"Thanks" he smiled at me.  
"It is of no trouble to me"  
"Say that again but add my name at the end?"  
"Why would I-"  
"Please just do it" 

For no discernible reason I feel my mouth go dry, and my heart rate fluctuates. My internal organs are very troublesome around him. I exhale in something similar to a sigh.

"It is of no trouble to me, Jim"  
He was not asleep, but he did appear to be.  
"Once more Mr. Spock"

I was becoming increasingly confused.   
"It is of no trouble to me, Jim" Still, I was given no explanation, I waited. Still nothing.

"Why did you ask me to repeat myself?"   
"Hm?" He looked over at me, his face was surprisingly close to mine. 

His eyes looked soft, his skin almost surreal in the last of the vanishing pinks in the sky. He looked so tired, and happy, he had no guard up. He was open in front of me, it was beyond beautiful.

"Um-" I had lost my track of thought, this was a first for me. It was horrifying. I was beginning to wonder if earth's surplus of oxygen was affecting my brain.

"Never heard you struggle with words" he muttered, I could hear the smile in his voice.  
"I apologize,I would just like to know why you had me repeat that statement."  
"Love the way you say my name"  
"Jim, I-"   
"Mm, yup, love it, again"  
"Are you perhaps intoxicated?" 

Hoping that his mood might be passing, it was making me- feel a way I can't say I was comfortable with.   
"Maybe, i've had a few" he nods towards the cans.   
"I'd still like you to say my name"   
"Jim"  
"My full name"  
"James Tiberius Kirk"  
"I love when you do stupid things for me- you are so green"   
I did not, and could not deny the statement.

"Let's go, get back in the car" he hopped out of the back of the vehicle suddenly like he wasn't just a second ago on the verge of unconsciousness. I almost scoff; Humans, no, more specifically, Jim.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, Comments, Comments; I live for them, so if you've got anything at all to say, please say it!

"Are you coming?" Jim called from the front of the vehicle. I got back into the car.   
Jim begins driving.  
We sit in a somewhat comfortable silence for a time.  
"Are you going to ask where we're going?"  
"I was not, but it appears you expected and would like me to, and as you are so fond of my doing 'stupid things for you' I'll ask, To what location will you take me next?"   
"It's a secret." he winked  
"Then why did you-"  
Jim bit his lip to hold in his laugh.   
"It really is not all that humorous"   
"It's a little bit 'humorous'"  
I really was not, but I held my tongue, knowing that any statement I could utter would easily be countered by Jim's jabs at my more 'serious' demeanor. 

I could hear Jim singing very clearly now. The song had an air of searching and loss, and Jim knew every word. I wasn't surprised, from what I had learn of his musical preferences from today's excursion would have pointed to a song like this one. His singing wasn't phenomenal, but it was endearing in a way. Jim notices my intent listening and turns the volume up. And his face becomes very expressive, but not the way I have seen him do so on a few occasions in which he would mock and draw out the emotion of a song for derisive purposes, while the intoxicated Doctor laughed. For a few lines he glances quickly in my general vicinity, others he shuts his eyes briefly and I wonder if he has forgotten he is driving the vehicle.   
The song ends and Jim exhales loudly.   
"That one has been my favorite for awhile"  
"I have found through careful observation that a person's favorite song tells much about the person's nature and motivations."  
"Really? Then what does that song say about me Spock?"  
I pondered the theme I had picked out earlier, of loss and searching.   
"It says you feel lost, that you yearn for a past you can not find."  
"For someone who doesn't do emotions you really have me figured out."   
He flashes me that brilliant smile that has united nations, and it was I who felt lost.   
He stopped the car, looked at me briefly with what I could only identify as curiosity, took a breath and exited the vehicle.   
He waits for me before taking off running of the side of what appeared to be drop off.   
"Jim!" I did not intend to shout but I was if it was ripped from my throat. When I heard his laugh, a wave ,that is the only way to describe it, of relief washed over me. I walked towards the edge. Jim was on a thin strip of land that tapered of softly into a large body of water. He was stripping off his shirt when he called to me. I slid down the edge of the incline I had assumed to be a cliff.   
"And what are we to do here Jim?" I had a vague idea about what he expected of me and I was not certain that I would enjoy it.  
"Swimming Spock!" He looked akin to many human children I had encountered. No one would have guessed he was one of the top ranking captains of Starfleet. It was.. nice. How human of myself, to prefer the small and helpless. I fought back a grin.   
"Oh come on, The water is fine"  
"I do not swim for pleasure Jim."   
"You do nothing for pleasure." He sighed in a dramatic manner and proceeded to wade into the water. It was unbelievable to me that he could enjoy the tepid water in the earth spring.   
"Spock!" He called my name in a lamenting fashion.   
Walking closer to the water I still had no intention of join him, but I hypothesized that my being closer might quell his complaints.   
"The temperature is already to low for my liking, as I am Vulcan."   
"Half human" he murmured. It knew it was not any sort of insult, as Jim held anything human in a high regard, but still I refused to move any closer to the water.   
"In any matter I have no swim clothing."  
"Neither did I" he winked and dove under the water. It was surprisingly clear and I could see him ruffling his hair beneath the soft waves. He broke the surface again and I felt a chill run through me. Certainly, it was the thought of being in the cold water myself.   
"Spock please" it was more of a command and he began walking towards me. I backed up slowly, knowing his intentions.   
"If you don't take off your damn clothes and get in the water, I'm going to do it for you." He laughed. I scowled, I was at least 5 times stronger than him, but some part of myself wanted him to try. I wondered absentmindedly if he could lift me.. or if his threat had been in earnest. My face heated and I held in my exasperation I felt toward my blood.   
And too quickly he was fighting to pull my shirt off and I hardly attempted to stop him. But when he reached towards my jeans I grabbed him by the wrists. He looked surprised by my strength.   
"Fine, Fine," he said stepping back with his palms shown to me in a gesture of surrender.   
"Be lame if that's what you want." He mumbled to himself as he slinked back to the water.  
I was already shivering but something compelled me to continue to remove my jeans and walk toward the water.   
The sand itself caused my feet to cramp due to the cold.   
Jim watched me with amusement as I struggled to keep a straight face as I waded into the water.   
I ducked my head under the water hoping that once my body adjusted to the temperature the shivering would cease.  
Cold, Cold, and then a rush of warm. It took me approximately 2.55 seconds to process the reason as to why I was suddenly warmed.  
I struggle to quickly emerge from the water.   
And there I stood in the freezing water of a spring morning with Jim wrapped around my back.   
"May a request an explanation" I ask quietly, my body going rigid.   
"You were cold, right?"  
"Yes, but we have been over my fondness for personal space." I pry him off me and duck back under the water before he can speak to me again.   
When I resurface Jim is sitting on the shore line watching me. When he catches my slight glare he waves to me then proceeded to run off somewhere beyond the ledge.   
I sigh, reach the shore and begin my search for Jim. It takes around 3 minutes to find him. He is perched in a tree and he waves at me again and laughs as he climbs higher.   
"I request you come down, you are putting yourself in unnecessary danger Jim."  
"Oh please I'm having fun." He yells down at me.   
"Something you can't seem to mange" he murmurs, but I hear him.  
"I am very much capable of fun."   
"Then get up here and prove it" he says as he continues his climb.


End file.
